Expert reviews and ratings

The HP Spectre 13 is a great-looking laptop with a good screen and some genuinely useful software on board for a pretty reasonable price. But it's let down by its sluggish performance, which really doesn't match its appearance. For light use, it's...

The HP Spectre 13 may not be an attention grabbing hybrid, but compared to other Ultrabooks it has few areas of weakness. With an Intel Haswell processor, and twice as much RAM and twice the SSD capacity of last year's standard, it ticks the major...

It won't break any speed records, but the HP Spectre 13 is a smart, attractive Ultrabook that can give Apple's MacBook Air a run for its money. The HP's slimline design, high-quality display and reasonable battery life help ensure that it earns its keep when you're out and about. And, of course, there's that over-sized trackpad, which is a small but worthy innovation that makes it just that little bit more comfortable to use than many of its rivals.

Someone at HP has obviously had on their thinking cap on. The company recently released its HP Envy 17 laptop with a built-in Leap Motion sensor that allows you to control the laptop with hand gestures. The HP Spectre 13 boasts a less exotic – but...

The reasonable keyboard and good trackpad make up for the misfiring Control Zones and poor speakers, and there’s enough power on the inside to handle daily tasks and even light gaming. This is one of the best Windows Ultrabooks on the market, and one of the closest we’ve seen to matching the MacBook Air.

It's easy to fall for the HP Spectre 13: it has that combo of quality materials, a sharp full HD (or higher) display and good looks that we expect from an Ultrabook. Better yet, it's priced to sell when compared to the metal-clad full HD or higher...

HP has already had a few machines out in 2014 for us to look at, and here we are with a new Ultrabook, promising good looks, good speed, and a screen that goes above and beyond the typical trend for current thin and lights. A new Ultrabook for a new...

It's easy for us to give the Spectre 13 a good review, but that's partly because the price is so reasonable. Were this priced in line with its peers, we'd have a harder time forgiving its flaky trackpad, sticky keyboard and relatively heavy weight. As it...

While our Spectre may not be the cheapest ultrabook out there, it is well worth its asking price of around 1300 euros. Not content with being a compact, very slim ultrabook with decent battery life and more than enough performance reserves even for...

Almost, but not quite The HP Spectre 13 has the looks, it has the feel, and it even has a killer app in Adobe Lightroom 5, but still can't compete with ultra-portable laptops from Apple and Samsung. Why? Performance. For an ultrabook that has...

It isn't the fastest 13.3-inch ultrabook, but the Spectre 13 is a sleek, solidly built contender with an innovative touch pad that reduces the need to swipe and tap its 1080p touch screen. Add nine-hour battery life, and it's a good value at $999....

There are no two ways about it: HP tried to make a MacBook. The Spectre is like the illegitimate child of a MacBook Pro and MacBook Air which refused to teach their newborn the ways of OS X. If you're a Windows user who quietly covets the build and...